Houston Astros Young Starter Seemingly Has Put Early Struggles Behind Him

It was not a good start to the year for one of the Houston Astros young starters, but it seems like he might have figured something out to put that behind him.

May 28, 2024; Seattle, Washington, USA; Houston Astros starting pitcher Hunter Brown (58) throws against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at T-Mobile Park. / Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

The Houston Astros came into the season knowing they would be down two of their projected starting pitchers.

Justin Verlander and Jose Urquidy started the year on the injured list after the ace came into camp behind scheduled and the righty veteran picked up a forearm strain.

At the time, this seemed like something the Astros could overcome as Hunter Brown looked extremely solid at the beginning of 2023 during his rookie season, but that turned out not to be the case as their rotation became one of the worst in all of baseball.

Brown was a major reason why.

Through his first six starts of the year, he had an 0-4 record with a staggering 9.78 ERA.

There were calls to send him down to Triple-A to work on things like they did with their other youngster J.P. France, but because of all the injury issues Houston had, that option wasn't really a reality.

Instead, they allowed the 25-year-old to work through some things against Major League hitters, something that always can go wrong when things aren't clicking.

However, things have gone better in the month of May, ending his five starts with an ERA of 3.98 including his last two being considered quality.

Brown was unlucky in his outing against the Los Angeles Angels, getting credited with the loss despite only giving up two hits and two earned runs that came from a homer in the fifth inning.

Tuesday's start was his best of the year as he gave up just one earned run across six innings pitched while striking out a season-high nine batters when facing the AL West-leading Seattle Mariners.

That's a great sign for the Astros moving forward as they are relying on Brown to be a quality arm on their pitching staff. When Luis Garcia and Lance McCullers Jr. make their returns later in the season, it will be interesting to see what they do with the second-year player as they could move him into the bullpen.

For now, all he can do is continue to try and find success on the mound, something that has happened for him during his last two outings.